rofgile (99.47)

15

I decided to pick up a bunch of Whole Foods Market shares today. I have been a long time customer of their stores, and generally feel quite confident in the business's long term prospects. Generally, I think Whole Foods plays several angles quite well: [more]

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6

T-mobile made released their earnings report yesterday. The subscriber growth contined to increase in rate last quarter with 2.4 million additions. Overall, their aggressive marketing and cheaper plans seem to be drawing people in. They are still having large outflows of cash to expand the LTE service & recently purchased more 700 Mhz spectrum from Verizon, which will allow them to increase LTE coverage to improve services. This may impact up to 158 million consumers and could lead coverage in "major metro areas ..that.. include New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Washington D.C., and Detroit. " If T-mobile continues promoting their brand, encouraging customers to switch, and expanding in metro areas, then the company should do well. [more]

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6

I have been reading "Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work), in Words and Pictures", by Michael Goodwin & illustrated by Dan E. Burr. I highly recommend you all pick this one up right straight away! (Amazon link) I found this as it was rated one of the top recent graphic novels at my local public library.

Basically, it is a complete history of economics and policies, with insight and commentary from pre-industrial era all the way past our 2008 housing / debt / derivatives crisis. And it is an illustrated comic book too! The commentary on how the World Wars I and II developed is especially fascinating. The authors connect the crash 1929 and downward spirals in world trade to the effects this would have on a country that completely relied on world trade (Japan). The effects of this directly lead to Japan becoming aggresive and attacking China, then attacking the US prior to targeting oil in Indonesia. That was insightful! There are plenty of other gems, such as why the US entered World War I when it did. How did tax brackets change from the 1950's to the 1980's, and why, etc etc. Really this book is a gem! [more]

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10

Ford (F) is going to introduce an F-150 truck that will feature a body made of aluminum. This is not striking as the first vehicle ever made of aluminum (or aluminium if you are British) but may mark a large shift towards better materials in vehicles. [more]

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5

If you have time, you should read this piece from Salon.com. A group in Switzerland is proposing a minimum universal paycheck. Everyone in the country would get paid $2800 a month, regardless of what they do or have done. [more]